This weekend, The Kansas City Star issued strong support for the Clean Missouri Initiative, calling it a “welcome development” that would “…go a long way toward cleaning up Jefferson City.” The initiative, endorsed by End Citizens United, would increase transparency, limit the influence of Big Money in local elections and, in the words of The Kansas City Star, “take control of [the government] back from the big corporations and the special interests.” The paper also rebuked Governor Greitens for his failure to uphold his campaign promise to clean up Jefferson City, and for his embrace of dark money.
Kansas City Star: Here’s how citizens can finally clean up Missouri government
What do Missouri lawmakers have in common with the Kansas City Royals?
Both groups have been doing a lot of whiff-whiff-whiffing lately — the Royals when it comes to hitting a baseball, lawmakers when it comes to beefing up their loosey-goosey ethics rules.
Now, citizens are stepping up, attempting to do what legislators won’t. It’s a welcome development.
Some 500 petitioners are roaming the state most weekends collecting signatures for something called “The Clean Missouri Initiative” that would go on the November 2018 ballot. This is the latest bid by regular folks to take control of their government back from the big corporations and the special interests.
The initiative would enshrine in the Missouri Constitution a series of proposals that lawmakers have kicked around for years. In one fell swoop, the state would:
▪ Require that lawmakers wait two years before they could turn around and lobby their colleagues.
▪ Eliminate almost all lobbyist gifts. No freebie could be valued at more than $5. In other words, lobbyists could buy legislators a cup of coffee — and no more.
▪ Eliminate partisan gerrymandering when it comes to redrawing lines for legislative districts. The focus would be to return competitiveness to races that too often have become one-sided incumbent coronations.
▪ Set campaign donation limits at $2,500 for the state Senate and $2,000 for the House.
▪ Open legislative records to public review.
All these proposals have merit and would go a long way toward cleaning up Jefferson City. As an added bonus, members of both parties embrace this proposal. Unlike past initiative efforts that have fallen flat, this one has financial support thanks to a $250,000 donation from the Missouri National Education Association.
Once upon a time in 2017, long-awaited ethics reform appeared to be a promising prospect. Within minutes of taking the oath of office in January, Gov. Eric Greitens signed an executive order banning every employee in his administration from accepting lobbyist gifts. He had spent much of 2016 campaigning on a pledge to clean up government.
But hopes for real reform dissolved amid Greitens’ embrace of dark money and his refusal to disclose how much lobbyists and corporations paid to underwrite his inaugural ball.
Then, in the House, the first bill heard this year was a proposal to ban lobbyist gifts. The House approved the measure in just eight days, which amounts to blinding speed for a legislative body.
Then it hit the state Senate and went kaput.
Sen. Rob Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican, was incredulous, as were others. He said ethics and campaign reform rank as the “number one issue” for Missourians.
So much promise. So much disappointment in a pattern that has repeated itself over and over again in recent years.
So let’s posit this: If anything is going to get done when it comes to cleaning up state government, the responsibility will fall to the people themselves. Key leaders in the General Assembly seem determined to keep the steady stream of free tickets, free meals and free booze flowing.
Lawmakers have practically invited citizens to take matters into their own hands. And that’s exactly what’s happening.
Missourians have voiced overwhelming support for clean-government initiatives over the years. Get this on the ballot, and the days of whiffing on ethics will finally end.